Autumn Sun

“The autumn sun shines. Nature in farewell colours. My
heart sings mournfully – the shadows lengthen.” Jean Sibelius
wrote this in his diary in autumn 1914, when he had begun
work on his Fifth Symphony. This soaring, melodic work is
one of Sibelius’s most popular. At this opening concert of the
autumn season, it is coupled with Klami’s evocative Kalevala
Suite and two virtuoso arias by Beethoven. This programme
will also be performed at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg
as part of the celebrations of the centenary of Finland’s
independence.